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And a fourth partner has been connected to the Deutsche Bahn Group Interface. With the implementation of real time communication, Schulz Hotel can now share availabilities, prices and bookings with DB Klassenfahrten & Gruppenreisen. By linking the two partners together, .design-it helps to reduce processing times and transcription errors.

Design thinking emerged in the 1950s and has since become central part of every stage in business, computer science and even education. David Kelley (Founder of IDEO) is a famous promoter of this method. To sum up the essence of design thinking:

The last twelve weeks were all about design thinking methods here at DESIGN-IT. We decided to take these methods and put them to test ourselves. Some of them were already known between team members while others were used without knowing that they are formalized as a design think method. Goal of this was to see how methods applied consciously, help in stages of development or design; if and how they help team building.

And last week of the 12 week series is here. We conclude our design thinking method journey with “Paper prototype“. This method is the first and foremost step after getting to know the project and after having a brainstorming session. By creating low fidelity prototypes on paper or whiteboard you can get a first impression of your concept.

Task: Having pen, paper, glue and scissors or a whiteboard sketch your concept by screens. This should follow the flow of the app and focus on usability in a fast, easy and fun way.

Goal: It is a very inexpensive way to test out a lot of ideas and find the one that suits you the most. It also gives higher flexibility in changing or discarding an idea as opposed to changing the developed click-flow. It is also a great way to gather the team and foster communication and team spirit.

And here we are with our penultimate design thinking method in our 12 weeks series. This week is all about “Empathy tools”. It is a term used to describe ​physical objects​ and ​cognitive or social techniques​ that provide designers with a feeling and deeper understanding of users with ​various abilities.

Goal: With ​inclusive design​ it is possible to gain more empathy and understand better other user’s capabilities, by experiencing a product in a way that an end user with certain disabilities would. By using different tools to experience what end users with special conditions feel when usign the app, team members will gain “informed intuition“.

Task: There is no predefinite way of testing out this method. Team members have to think about abilities and special conditions end users who will use the app could have and then put these to test. These could be blindness or just bad eye sight, shaking hands but also technical difficulties like slow software, not enough IT knowledge etc. In the end they should see how user friendly the app is and what can be changed.

Tenth week here at DESIGN-IT with another interesting feedback giving method. This weeks method is called “Five finger feedback“. This is another fun and creative way to gather fast, ondemand and informal feedback.

Goal: By assigning each finger a specific meaning quick but structured feedback can be achieved. Team member will give feedback on a chosen project.

Task: Here is the meaning of each finger when using this type of feedback. This can be provided written (by drawing a hand) or at oral feedback sessions.

Thumb: Like showing thumbs up, its associated with what the feedback giver really liked.

Index finger: Something noticed which the person would like to point out.

Middle finger: This is associated with negative comment. But it should be done in a constructive way, by mentioning also the parts which the feedbacker giver liked in relation with the critical point.

Ring finger: Connection or emotional part of the feedback can be mentioned here. What the feedbacker giver likes and would like to keep and what not can be mentioned here.

Little finger: Here parts which did not get enough attention should be reminded or what was missing from the feedback givers perspective.

Read more below about our experience and oppinion testing this method. (more…)

Week 9 here at DESIGN-IT. This week is all about correct and fair feedback in a structured grid. The “Feedback Capture Grid” method is based on four quadrants labeled with easy understandable symbols, that are used as categories for the feedback. It is very useful for written, formal or prepared feedback since it is a written process.

Task: Either as an on-demand feedback gathering or internally after an external testing session, team member have to prepare in groups feedback on a selected project by using the four categories of the grid. They can do this virtually or on a white board with post-its. The symbols are as follows: [ plus ]Likes (positive feedback), [ lightbulb] Ideas (gathered during presentation), [ triangle ]Criticisms (constructive negative feedback), [ question mark ]Questions.

One time, each should moderate the session by explaining the method, if needed, and making sure the session focuses on the task. Next all members should be feedback givers and try to fill out each quadrant at least once.

Goal: Goal is not only to learn how a constructive and fair feedback should look like, but also to get the team involved in projects where not everyone is part of. As the roles switch, team strength and team work should be built up.

Development and especially mobile development have reached a stage where there is constantly a new operating system and new easy ways to develop features. There is no perfect solution neither a winner when it comes to choosing one path in developing a mobile app. Instead, discussion should be directed to advantages and disadvantages of the types of apps available.

There are three different types of applications: native, web and hybrid applications. Native apps are developed for a specific platform and web apps are generalized for multiple platforms. While native and web applications represent two different types, hybrid applications combine elements from both former types. Think of them as container apps.

In this post we dedicate our attention specifically to hybrid apps with its advantages and disadvantages. We have been using this option for some time. Among others we developedMoRe studies, FMS mobile as hybrid apps.

“Power of Ten” – this weeks method focuses on the reframing technique. It is based on the short film of the same name from 1977. The movie shows a picnic scene in Chicago with different magnitudes of distance from 1 meter up to 10​24 ​meters and then down to 10​-16 ​meters. Goal of this was to shocase exponential growth. Humans are used to think linearly although many things actually grow exponentially.

Task: Team members start by choosing a scale. Although the original movie works with magnitudes of distance, they can choose another scale which fits their purpose (distance, size, time or more various like cost, complexity or even abstract like rewarding points). After they will focus on their problem of choice by zooming in and out of it. By moving in powers of ten (adding or removing a zero at the end) they will try to really understand the problem. This moving through magnitudes should enable patterns which repeat at different scales.

Goal: In design thinking, this method helps changing our point of view. By looking at a problem from different magnitudes, basically by zooming in and out of your current situation, you will find the right framing for the different issues of your problem.

When working on virtual and design problems, you need to construct a whole model in your mind to be able to work on it. “Powers of Ten” helps you in this complex process to find and develop different patterns with different magnitudes.

The ideation process always has a sketching part as the brainstorming process rapidly unfolds itself. So this week we dedicate our attention to the design thinking method called “thirty seconds sketch”. It is an easy quick way to visualize ideas in the first stage before producing a design prototype. Through hand drawn sketches team members can explore different concepts and abandon some ideas if a new better one comes up. It is set to thirty seconds per sketch. This should enable the identifying of critical details in a short time.

Task: Using a timer set to thirty seconds team members have to sketch their ideas on a piece of paper for a project they choose. They can either do this alone or with more people involved. Important is to adjust the focus on the sketch depending on the phase of the project they choose. Another variation is called “crazy 8″: by folding the piece of paper three times in half in the end you get eight fields to fill out. For this the timer is set to 5 minutes.

Goal: It is not important if the sketched idea will be usable. More important is to gather as much ideas on the topic as possible.

This weeks method is derived from Zen Buddhism. “Beginner’s mind” is a state of openness and lack of preconceptions. It is a design thinking tool used in the process of ideation. It is said that through developing expert knowledge in a field, we also automatically apply assumptions, perceptions and stereotypes with it.

Goal: This method is used in order to discover new, maybe before unseen solutions. Last but not least it is also a great tool to empathise with beginners. By questioning assumptions, but without judging, and opening oneself towards the new, it is believed that innovation is a step closer.

Task: Team members have to apply this method either themselves or by asking a real beginner. They can use it for ideation or for validating certain prototypes and ideas.

New week here @DESIGN-IT. We dedicate our attention to the method called “letter to grandma”. This method is used in the first stages of ideation to better share and understand the requirements. It enables knowledge transfer without forgeting any detail of a project. Usually it is dedicated to a person who is not involved in the project and has no knowledge about it.

Task: Team members will have to write a letter to their grandmother, or a fictional pen pal if they prefer. By deliberately chosing a person who has no knowledge about the project or in general not advanced knowledge about IT, the letter becomes more all-encompassing and detailed.

Another week with a new design thinking method @DESIGN-IT. This week we dive in to the “five whys”. It is an interrogative tool used to discover the root cause to a problem.

Goal is to foster communication between team members and understanding of a product.

Toyoda Sakichi invented this method for the industrial manufacturing. Nowadays it can be used in many other fields. The idea behind this method is to go further than discovering the symptoms. In most cases the real problem lies behind the symptoms.

Task: By asking five whys in a certain problem, the root cause will finally reveal itself.

This weeks method is called “Customer journey”. The journey of an end user throughout a certain product stands in focus of this method. Goal of our team is to foster product understanding and empathy towards our customer.

Task: Using the personas of last weeks “Character profiles” teams on a specific project will be formed. Our team members will have to draw and fill out the journey map of a persona using one specific use case of an app of choice. Team members will have to put themselves in the shoes of the end user.

Goal is for team members to gain better understanding of end users and foster empathy.

This weeks design thinking method is about character profiles. This method is used to gain insight into the product by the perspective of an end user. Empathy therefore is a key component.

“Character profiles” is based on fictional characters from data research on real end users. By interviewing and observing a target group a persona is created to represent this end user.

Task: The team will receive information on these fictional characters. Based on these information and from the perspective of the chosen character they will then have to evaluate one of our product or current designs and projects.

Goal is to gain empathy towards our customer. Re-evaluating the product from other perspectives is also task of this method. Read more below abou our experience.

Beginning with this week the DESIGN-IT team evaluates for 12 weeks various design thinking methods(applied for business purposes by David M. Kelly, founder of IDEO; in the 1960s first use in academics by L.Bruce Archer). Each week a new method will be presented. Team members will have to put them into practice in groups or alone – depending on the method. Methods will be applied to a current project, project management or other tasks. At the end of this 12 weeks period, our experience will be summarized with benefits and disadvantages of each methods and overall opinions.

This weeks method is the human-centered “Personal inventory”– approach. Goal of this design method is to introduce the routine and working habit of each team member and also end user. This involves showcasing their relationship to physical and digital products.

Task: Team members and end users take a picture of their working space. This is of course their desk, but it can be also a whiteboard, or the kitchen. This way they show their daily routine with any hard or software they use throughout their day.

Goal: Empathy towards the team but especially the end user will be herewith created.

DESIGN-IT developed for DART gGmbH the new frontend for the existing platform DART. It is an internal application to collect data on arthroscopic interventions.

Treatment specific questionnaires are answered and saved anonymously on the user interface. To maximize the number of answered questionnaires, an improved user experience was set as main goal. This was achieved through a new general layout, intuitiv user interface as well as optimized interaction paths.

“Do it differently!” is the slogan. With biodegradable ®treecups more than 40.000.000 disposable cups have been saved. DESIGN-IT developed for the innovative company a new webshop to optimize sale, logistics and customer service.

On 25. March we held our first networking event in Cologne. We presented our services and current projects to interested participants from various sectors. Buzzwords such as Rapid Prototyping, Minimum Viable Product and UI Testing were discussed and brought to attention by practical examples.

Another networking event in this format will take place in Munich in June. If you are interested, please write us an e-mail with the keyword “DESIGN-IT & Friends”.

We would like to thank you again for your participation and look forward to seeing you at one of the next events!

We are happy to announce that beginning with this new year 2017, a new member has joined our team. We would like to warmly welcome our new Sales Consultant, Christoph Schwinghammer. We are convinced that he will add a new layer of success to our quality efforts!

We are completing the development of a new hybrid mobile app developed with Ionic Framework and AngularJS as part of our Fluid Management System.

The app allows users to use their mobile devices to check their daily tasks and container’s statuses and take measurements. This all is possible also without internet connection. As soon as the mobile device is back online, the data will be updated. So simple is Fluid Management in a interconnected world.

In collaboration with Winglet Education GmbH, DESIGN-IT envisioned concept and UI design and developed the HTML frontend for an online education platform. Winglet platform is focused on Continuing Medical Education (CME). User can acquire professional competences and stay permanently up-to-date.

Doctors can join live events or watch recordings. During a live event they can interact with the speakers through voting and questions.

Industry partners can present their company and products in custom showrooms.

DB Klassenfahrten & Gruppenreisen completed the last step to a fast and complete group booking interface. Barny manages the offers coming from the online catalog and is an all in one tool: from customer requests to partner communication, booking and invoicing, everything is easily manageable. The new solution replaces numerous unintegrated lagacy systems.

Modular Research Studies (MoRe) is a new project made by DESIGN-IT together with the University of Freiburg, funded by Baden-Würtemberg. The Webapp enhances the possibility to create and run research studies on mobile devices. An intuitiv platform allows to configure a study and publish it in minutes. Participants can participate via browser, espacially on mobile devices. Thus research studies can access to robust sample quantities.

On May 25th, the second ever Laravel UY Meetup was held at out offices in Montevideo. Meetups are a gathering of people in a city for the purpose of discussing a subject, and this one was a great opportunity for the Laravel community in Uruguay to learn, improve, share a drink and have a good time. These Meetups are also ideal for making sure developers stay up to date with the latest this great framework has to offer. We look forward to hosting more of these events.

The next major release of FMS is up and running with a significant performance improvement. QA measurements are supported now along with more new pins and can be shown in the container graph. Customers can now manage their account’s articles and rules and receive automatically generated status reports on weekly basis.

DB-Gruppen.de has gone live!
Group trips are a highly complex product. In February 2016 a new online catalog for DB Klassenfahrten & Gruppenreisen went live. It allows the visitor to select accommodation, transportation and program services to configure his individual group trip. Connected to our group travel platform BRAVO, the online catalog calculates availabilities and prices on the fly. In an intuitive check out process the visitor can submit a request for his desired group trip.

TripHop has gone live – an internet platform help you plan, book and conduct group tours. With a few click you can compare prices and choose between alternative services such as accommodation, transportation and program.
Enjoy creating group and school trips.

We are proud to publish the very first research app in Germany utilizing Apple’s new framework ReserarchKit. This technology has the power to revolutionize research studies all around the world. It allows researches and developers to create mobile apps that gather information from the candidates’ iPhones. Tracking movements, taking measurements, recording information are some of the features already available on the iPhone, making it the perfect tool to support your research study. We can create mobile apps for various fields of research, such as medicine, pharma or psychology.

To know more about research apps visit researchapps.de or read the University of Freiburg article here.

The new version of FMS is completed and released. It extends the available functionality substantially and includes overall usability improvements. The updates comprise file management (e.g. for technical fact sheets), generation of status reports as PDF, support of discrete parameter values and a powerful quality assurcance tool to analyze asset performance over time.

The next hotel partner has been connected to the DB Group Booking Interface. aletto Hotels & Hostels (aletto.de) with three houses in Berlin can now communicate availabilities, prices and bookings with its partner DB Klassenfahrten & Gruppenreisen in real time.

As part of new tool for DB Klassenfahrten & Gruppenreisen to manage hotel reservations and bookings with hotel partners acrosss europe, .design-it completed the implementation of a real time communication interface povided by Meininger Hotels. The use of the new interface allows DB to check availabilities and conditions and to submit requests and bookings. By linking the two partner together, .design-it helps to reduce processing times and transcription errors.

.design-it released a beta version of Placetel Connect, a Force.com application to integrate the Placetel cloud telephony system with Salesforce.com’s Service and Sales Cloud. The application is available for testing and will soon be listed in the AppExchange Store.

Everyone knows the hassle to plan and organize a trip with a groups of friends, family or a sports club. Now Deutsche Bahn offers groups trips all around Europe. Browse the online catalogue and submit your request. Deutsche Bahn handles the rest – powered by .design-it

Intelligent fluid maintenance for production machines, version 1.0 is available – a project by IQ Fluids and .design-it

The application allows production companies to easily manage and document their fluid maintenance. New measurement trigger rule-based counter actions. The due date and criticality of those actions determine the status of the container and machine.